How’s your prayer life? Someone once said, “if you only pray when you’re in trouble, you’re in trouble.” Prayer should be a regular part of the life of a believer. In Philippians 4:4-6 the Bible says this: “4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” We should always be able to rejoice because we always have instant access to His presence. Consider that for a minute, instant access to the Lord of Lords and no appointment is necessary. Instant access to the One Who is able to meet every need that we have. Well that is worth rejoicing over. He is near to us, He said He will never leave or forsake us. Because of this, verse 6 says we should be anxious for nothing! Nothing simply means “no thing”. Do hard and difficult times come? Of course they do. But when they do, rejoice in the Lord because while it may be hard for you, He is your help and Jeremiah 32:17 says, ‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.” That’s why we need not be anxious. Verse 6 goes onto say, but in evertyhing ( every thing) by prayer (pray – literally, to interact with the Lord by switching human wishes (ideas) for His wishes as He imparts faith) AND supplication (properly, an olive branch; (figuratively) earnest supplication for peace (relief, reconciliation). So, we are pray by switching our prayer thinking into confidence in what God’s Word says about Him meeting our needs and supplication for peace instead of anxiety in our situation. Peace literally means nothing missing and nothing broken. In other words Lord according to your Word I need help and you can fix it. Finally as we pray, we do so with thanksgiving in the name of Jesus. God will do what God says He will do, when we do what God says to do, the way He says to do it. Amen and amen.
